On the sides of streets
Tracks of rails
All over abandoned grounds and parks
Spaces you ignore
Places you don't look,
I grow green and lush
Leaves and flowers and all.
Not in the forests
Not in the gardens
In grasslands, wetlands and savannahs,
I drink the sunlight
Spread my tender branches
Unfurl my thirsty roots
And let my leaves breathe out life.
On my flowers, the bees make love
On my branches, the finches creep
On my leaves, the thrips feast
From the air my pores breathe out,
Lives the man that walks
The snake that crawls
The birds that fly.
I'm a shrub
That does it's part
To keep this planet
Alive at heart.
But come flood, I'm dead
Come summer, I'm burnt.
When seasons don't kill me,
Humans do.
For parades and processions,
Festivals and funerals,
For roads and gardens and powerplants,
Everyday, I'm killed - 
Blades cutting into my tender stems
Flames burning my leaves alive.
I'm as life as your pug,
As life-giving as any forest plant.
Look at me with your heart,
I'm as infinitely beautiful
As any flower plant in your garden.
I'm a shrub
That does its part
To keep this planet
Alive at heart.
But what I'm now 
Is a dying tribe.
Like we share a lung
Let's share the earth.
Love us not
Show us some sympathy.
Let us live.